Garuda Indonesia switches to SITA for market insight on fares

9 April 2013

In a move to ensure optimum fares for its 20 million passengers, Garuda Indonesia has switched to SITA’s innovative fare pricing software, Airfare Insight. The system monitors competitor fare activity in an increasingly complex market that can have 20 million fare changes in a single week. It enables Garuda to make fully-informed fare changes in real time ensuring the airline continually offers competitive fares to customers.

Elisa Lumbantoruan, EVP Marketing and Sales, Garuda Indonesia, said: “SITA Airfare Insight gives us an effective tool to monitor the markets, so we can react quickly to changes in consumer behavior and market conditions. We can now propose, approve and distribute fares in an error-free and streamlined fares management process across the entire company.

“Airfare Insight also integrates well with our revenue management and accounting systems, and because it’s automated, we can focus on strategic pricing initiatives, rather than simply managing the pricing process. This will increase our profitability, while helping us achieve ‘Quantum Leap,’ our ambitious modernsation and growth plan.”

At any given time, airlines offer an average of 500,000 fares to consumers, and the number of fares and fare changes are rising. Global distribution systems (GDSs), which book and sell tickets for many different airlines, hold more than 200 million fares, and a full-service airline will update fares throughout their distribution network of GDSs, travel agencies and websites, several times a day.

With Airfare Insight, airlines can view all fares information, from both the GDS and the Internet, in a single application. This gives them real insight into competitors’ prices and enables them to get their own fares to market quickly and accurately in relation to others.
Ilya Gutlin, SITA President Asia-Pacific, said: “Managing fares is growing in complexity, and it remains critically important in facilitating profitable routes. This is a crucial time for Garuda Indonesia as it focuses on its ‘Quantum Leap’ growth initiative. SITA is working together with the team at the airline as it establishes a world-class and effective fares management program to support ‘Quantum Leap’.”

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SITA Airfare Insight has already been successfully introduced at Garuda and was fully cut-over last month. This puts the airline in the company of more than 20 of the world’s leading airlines using SITA Airfare Insight, including Emirates, Virgin Australia and Etihad.

Garuda Indonesia flew more than 20 million passengers in 2012 and offers 51 domestic and international destinations throughout Asia, Australia and Europe. In 2010, the airline established an aggressive five-year expansion program known as the ‘Quantum Leap’. The program involves a dramatic re-design of the airline’s strategic direction, network, brand and fleet with the aim of facilitating overall growth and establishing a wider network, a larger fleet and better quality of service by 2015.